ViewBug

Community Spotlight: A Scooter And A Camera

Our community member Mark Carolan (markcarolan) is a traveler. He has called some of the biggest cities in the world home but right now he is based in Bali, Indonesia. His photos are a fantastic balance between creativity, sexiness and drama, and the ’cinematic’ feel of his photos are created with the help of only using natural light. Wan’t to know more about him? Great! We asked him some questions. Enjoy!

My name is Mark Carolan and although I’m originally from England, my love of travel has kept me on the move for some time. At present I’m based in Bali, Indonesia but before that, I’ve called Amsterdam, Barcelona, Riga, Sydney, LA, Singapore and Taipei home.

My background is Advertising. I’ve worked as a freelance Creative Director for many years, working on projects around the world: airlines, banks, beers, cars, mobile phones, fashion and shampoo brands have kept me busy for some time. A large part of my advertising job is working with directors and photographers so my two careers/passions cross over a great deal.

After High School, I studied art and design at Bournemouth Art College in the UK. The course covered graphic design, typography, illustration and photography and it was since then, I’ve had the bug. But it wasn’t until later in my ad career that I started to pursue the photography path on my own.

Perhaps a cliché, but I gain inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. From Netflix tv series, an overhead story in a cafe, a post on Facebook, a film trailer, a piece of graffiti on the back of a toilet door. In Bali, I just ride around on my scooter, taking in all and everything. Thousands of images flying by is a great way to find an idea.

Not one person in particular but I have a constantly growing home-made book collection called ‘Armchair Walking’ that I often turn to and browse. Whenever I find an inspiring image online, it gets dumped into a desktop folder. After a while that folder becomes a book, full of random images: neon signs, fashion lighting, a quote, an illustration, a funny picture of a hat, a piece of meat. I started this collection when I lived in a remote village in Spain, with very little around me. The internet - and then these books - became my window to the big world. I’d sit for hours reading them and drift away. Hence the name of the collection. I suppose I should’ve called them Pinterest and made millions from them!